ficulty, which they do,
for that matter, and very nimbly.

I sweep the whole family from the back of one of my boarders with a hair-
pencil. Not a sign of emotion, not an attempt at search on the part of
the denuded one. After trotting about a little on the sand, the
dislodged youngsters find, these here, those there, one or other of the
mother's legs, spread wide in a circle. By means of these
climbing-poles, they swarm to the top and soon the dorsal group resumes
its original form. Not one of the lot is missing. The Lycosa's sons
know their trade as acrobats to perfection: the mother need not trouble
her head about their fall.

With a sweep of the pencil, I make the family of one Spider fall around
another laden with her own family. The dislodged ones nimbly scramble up
the legs and climb on the back of their new mother, who kindly allows
them to behave as though they belonged to her. There is no room on the
abdomen, the regulation resting-place, which is already occupied by the
real sons. The invaders thereupon encamp on the front part, beset the
thorax and change the carrier into a horrible pin-cushion that no longer
bears the least resemblance to a Spider form. Meanwhile, the sufferer
raises no sort of protest against this access of family. She placidly
accepts them all and walks them all about.

The youngsters, on their side, are unable to distinguish between what is
permitted and forbidden. Remarkable acrobats that they are, they climb
on the first Spider that comes along, even when of a different species,
provided that she be of a fair size. I place them in the presence of a
big Epeira marked with a white cross on a pale-orange ground (_Epeira
pallida_, OLIV.). The little ones, as soon as they are dislodged from
the back of the Lycosa their mother, clamber up the stranger without
hesitation.

Intolerant of these familiarities, the Spider shakes the leg encroached
upon and flings the intruders to a distance. The assault is doggedly
resumed, to such good purpose that a dozen succeed in hoisting themselves
to the top. The Epeira, who is not accustomed to the tickling of such a
load, turns over on her back and rolls on the ground in the manner of a
donkey when his hide is itching. Some are lamed, some are even crushed.
This does not deter the others, who repeat the escalade as soon as the
Epeira is on her legs again. Then come more somersaults, more rollings
on the back, until the giddy swarm ar